Energy regulatory agencies have a crucial role to play in promoting investment in renewable energy production to increase energy supply and bring down costs. To do so effectively, energy regulatory practitioners need to build capacity to develop appropriate policies, regulations and practices.

With funding from a SATH grant award in 2011, the DCC undertook pre-assessments for three project areas: bilateral agreements and road transport facilitation, rationalization of rail freight movement, and port-city interface. The assessments detailed specific project interventions, potential benefits and human/financial resources required to implement each project area. In 2012, the World Bank accepted the assessments and project proposals, and agreed to provide US$5 million for capacity building at the DCC Secretariat as well as a further US$5 million for DCC program implementation for the next three to five years.

In March, SATH launched desk research and country missions towards the 2012 Audit of the Implementation of the SADC Protocol on Trade. For the 2012 Audit – the sixth of its kind – the SADC Secretariat requested SATH to carry out a comprehensive Audit, as this year marks the final year of tariff phase downs and final assessment by SATH.

The majority of barriers to trade in services are embedded in regulations. Poorly conceived and implemented rules and regulations impact negatively on the ability of service providers to efficiently supply their markets. The corollary of this inefficiency is the additional cost imposed on users of services and final consumers of the products.

April 27, 2012 marked a significant milestone when representatives from the private sector, public sector and international organizations convened for the official re- launch of the Swaziland Investor Roadmap, officiated by His Majesty King Mswati III of Swaziland. This was a culmination of a process which started in 2005 when SATH, in collaboration with the Swaziland Investment Promotion Agency (SIPA), developed an investor roadmap that detailed the administrative, procedural and regulatory barriers that hindered investment flows to Swaziland.

From April 12-13, SATH presented Single Window as a cutting-edge tool for trade facilitation to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Finance, Customs and other private sector organizations, explaining how a NSW for Namibia could improve the Trading Across Borders index ranking, which currently stands at 142 out of 183 countries. Single Window is a crucial instrument that will eliminate inefficiency and ineffectiveness in business and government procedures and document requirements along the international supply chain, reduce trade transaction costs, as well as improve border control, compliance, and security.

The last two Export Digest articles dwelt on the technical challenges involved in exporting to the US. In this edition, Export Digest adds a more practical dimension to the discussion by talking to Mr. Selva Pillay of GLX Solutions, a US-based food products importer.